King Charles III's lobster dinner blew a $500,000 hole in French budgets after Emmanuel Macron rolled out the red carpet for the monarch's state visit.
Charles and Queen Camilla were treated to a grand dinner at the Palace of Versailles in September where guests included Mick Jagger, Sex Education star Emma Mackey and French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg.
The banquet for 160 guests was thrown by the French and Charles would not have had a say in the budget or scale of the event.
However, it has since become apparent that it cost French taxpayers €475,000 (around $513,000) after the publication of an annual audit of spending by Macron's office. The report was released by the Cour des Comptes, an audit court.
The lavish treatment Charles received is all the more awkward because the Élysée Palace blew €125 million over the year, taking it €8.3 million into the red.
King Charles gave a speech in French at the dinner in which he said: "Your generosity of spirit brings to mind how my family and I were so greatly moved by the tributes paid in France to my Mother, the late Queen, whose funeral took place one year ago yesterday.
"Mr. President, among the many profoundly moving gestures here, the flying of the Union flag at the Elysée was particularly poignant. Your words, at that time, meant a great deal to us too.
"You said that she had touched your hearts—and it was she who held France in the greatest affection, as, of course, did my grandmother Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother."
The budget-busting dinner included more than €165,000 spent on catering and over €40,000 on wine.
The Élysée said in a statement to Politico: "France maintains close diplomatic relations with a large number of countries, which organize equivalent events when they receive the Head of State."
The king's visit also spent considerable public funds after he chartered a private plane for £117,000 (around $126,000) between England, Paris, Bordeaux, and Scotland.
Catching the Eurostar from London to Paris costs a few hundred pounds per person for business premier class tickets and would have produced almost 100 times less carbon.
At the time, former U.K. government minister Norman Baker told Newsweek: "Charles seems not to understand that he weakens his own message by his own behavior. His predilection for private jets and helicopters puts him in the top one percent of carbon emitters in the world.
"He's hardly in a position to lecture other people from that great height. We need to get a grip of the issue, and I think Charles believes we need to get a grip of the issue.
"It's a bad look and it undermines his message, which is an important one. He needs to get his house in order."
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told Newsweek at the time: "The decision to move from train to plane was made on the advice of the French authorities. Royal travel always seeks to find the best balance of security, efficiency, and the need to minimize disruption for the public when planning transport for Their Majesties."
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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